7 Days
by Ai Tennshi
Summary: Love can begin in any number of ways. Love can come from any number of places. But it takes realizing what you feel to start along that path. Some people take just a few extra turns to get there.


_So…ahem. I've apparently taken it upon myself to populate the fandom with Wyper/Conis fanfiction. And, well, not that there are many pairings that I decide to write romance fics about (Keith/Nadja is really the only one)…but there aren't really any that ever were the sort that I wanted to write R-rated fics about. But Wyper and Conis…oh, the potential! Anything could happen!_

_I've written 4 stories about Wyper and Conis, and while each approach is a little different (especially the Deeper trilogy, which is AU), it's always been a gentle, romantic sort of story. But at some point, it occurred to me that while Wyper has almost certainly never been in love before, it wouldn't be odd for Wyper to have some sexual experience. And that led to an…interesting idea. Which led to me writing this. Which turned into my first (and probably only) smut fic. But, um. Who are these shameless characters? Why is there so much sappy, clichéd dialogue in my brain? *runs away to hide, blushing furiously*_

**7 Days**

It was the night the war ended—the night that he first met her—that Wyper noticed the attraction. As soon as the enmity dissolved at the sight of the pirates, Skypeians and Shandians celebrating as one outside, he looked around and saw _her_. The lines of her body—her generous chest and hips, and her tiny waist—the improbable hairstyle that was the way of her people, the braids that all but begged to be undone: it called to him, heated his blood and made him _want_.

Wyper was no stranger to adrenaline, and as such had had his share of fierce couplings as he came down from a high. The women had offered themselves willingly, but after four or five occasions he had stopped after one particularly fierce occasion during which he could not muster the control to pull out in time. A pregnancy would mean he would be obligated to marry the mother, his friends had told him, and he had waited fearfully for several months before learning that there was no child—he was safe. Still, he had never taken a woman again. Those couplings had been devoid of any emotion but pure lust—he wasn't sure he had ever even really seen the women as he took them. They had been a means to an end, nothing more.

Which was why this attraction was so staggering. The lust didn't diminish the girl to a body with which he could alleviate his needs—it blossomed her into a thing he felt he would never get enough of. He wanted to hear her voice laced with passion; to feel her tiny, strong hands grasping his shoulders and pulling him close; to feel her body arching under him, trying to press closer; he wanted her to want him as badly as he wanted her.

The war was over, he reminded himself. It made sense that his energy would seek out a new outlet. Now that there were no more battles, he wouldn't keep seeing falling, wounded comrades during the act—without that, self-control would not be a problem.

So when, on a day when she was the one in charge of changing his bandages, he noticed that she tended to avert her eyes from his chest, her cheeks a delicate pink, he wondered if he was dreaming. He kept an eye on her for days afterwards, watching her carefully. During those days, his certainty solidified.

The attraction was mutual.

The realization spurred Wyper into action, and he took to cornering her against walls with their bodies dangerously close but never touching, taking her hand and stroking the back, responding to her questions in a low voice right by her ear.

At first, his efforts were met with bafflement, stuttering, blushing and wide eyes. He redoubled his efforts in response, and so it was perhaps unsurprising that three of his friends—who apparently didn't know what a knock was—walked into his hospital room to find Conis against the wall, Wyper right in front of her murmuring his response to "How are you this morning?" in her ear.

The group of Shandians stood frozen and stared. Wyper glared. Conis squeaked and her face went bright red.

"W- well, if you're feeling better, you should be able to handle your bandages yourself today." She shoved the bandages into his hands and all but fled the room.

"What?" Wyper asked the others as soon as the door closed behind Conis.

"I thought you'd decided women were a waste of time," Braham pointed out.

"The war's over," Wyper pointed out. "Things are different now."

"Yes, but…I mean, you? Romance?" Laki's remark was met with nervous chuckles from the others.

"Who said anything about romance?" asked Wyper. The others stared at him as if he'd just grown another head. "What?"

"You mean you're…just _seducing_ the poor girl?" asked Braham.

"What?" snapped Wyper. "I'm not lying, I'm not asking her to do anything she doesn't want!"

"Have you…told her that you just want to sleep with her?" Kamakiri asked carefully.

"Not in so many words," Wyper said slowly, and suddenly he wondered if this had been an error. "Maybe I should."

The others exchanged looks among themselves, somewhere between amused, confused and…sympathetic?

"What do you want, anyway?" snapped Wyper. "I'll be out of here in a few days."

"So soon?" asked Laki, raising a brow. "Is that what the doctors say, or what you've decided?"

"There's no reason to rush out of here," Braham pointed out. "Take your time and heal up. And while you're at it, you should either give up on the poor girl or get serious."

"Why?" Wyper demanded. "We're two grown people, why should you care what I do?"

"It's just, the war's over," Laki said gently. "We let a lot of things happen during the war, because worse things were happening, but now that it's all over that'll start to change—and the Skypeians weren't fighting till today, so they probably don't have all those bending rules that we do."

Wyper frowned. "Fine," he said. "I'll take that into consideration."

Kamakiri, Laki and Braham raised their eyebrows.

"Okay, then," said Laki.

"A mellow Wyper is just…_weird_," Braham remarked.

"I'm right here," Wyper pointed out.

"This'll be fun," grinned Kamakiri.

"_What_ will?" Wyper demanded.

"It was fun seeing you!" said Laki, dragging the other two out of the room.

"What did you guys come for anyway?" Wyper called after them. He didn't receive a reply.

The next day, when she came into his room with breakfast, he was waiting on a chair beside his bed.

"Good morning," she smiled.

"Morning," Wyper grunted. He watched as she made her way across the room and placed the tray on the table. He cleared his throat. She looked at him.

"It was brought to my attention that I might be…leading you on."

The girl's brows shot up. "Oh?"

"I'm not…one for romance. I don't know how things work in Skypeia, but among us Shandians, it was considered acceptable for a man and a woman to have a…physical relationship as long as a child did not result. A child meant that the couple must wed, but otherwise it was acceptable so long as neither party was promised to another. Though as my friends pointed out, this may change now that the war is over…"

"That's rather more conservative than us Skypeians," smiled the girl. "There are no rules about physical relations, so long as neither person is married. Even if there is a child, it is acceptable—if perhaps frowned upon by some—for the couple to remain separate, as long as both contribute to the child's life. Some even marry after having a child, to someone who isn't the child's other parent."

Wyper blinked. "So…you're alright with this?"

"I would be delighted to share your bed," smiled the girl.

Wyper briefly wondered how many other beds she had shared, and then determinedly shoved the thought from his mind. It occurred to him that he didn't even know her name.

He swallowed. "I don't…know your name."

"I'm Conis," said the girl, and her smile didn't falter—if anything, it grew wider. "May I- may I kiss you?"

Wyper's mind went blank for a moment.

"To seal the deal, so to speak," Conis explained.

Wyper stood without a word and walked across the room. As soon as he was in reach of her he tilted her head back with a hand at the base of her head, and dipped his own head to catch her lips in his.

As kisses go, it was chaste. He took her bottom lip into his mouth and sucked lightly, once, twice, thrice, but then he pulled away. He blinked at her after the kiss ended—he had had the opportunity to use his tongue, to pull her body flush against his own, and he hadn't taken it. Just the kiss, just the contact of their lips and the touch of her soft hair and warm skin on his palm had made his heart race, his mind go blank.

"I have other patients to look after," said Conis. "I'll be back later in the day."

With that, she left the room. Wyper spent the morning wondering if reaffirming their deal would be too flimsy an excuse to kiss her again when she came back with his lunch.

But it was a Skypeian he'd never seen before that brought him his lunch. He grunted answers to her questions without really listening, wondering if Conis had changed her mind.

That afternoon, when the door opened at the time when his bandages were usually changed and his wounds dressed, Wyper glanced at the door deliberately casually. The familiar form settled a fierce restlessness that he hadn't even realized was running wild inside of him.

"You weren't here at lunch," said Wyper.

"I'm sorry, I a small errand to run," Conis said. Wyper nearly asked her what it was, and bit it back.

Conis sat in front of him as usual, the bandages and ointments on the bed beside her. As she set about unwrapping the bandages, all he could think about was the light brushes of her fingers against his skin. It was a burning that flared and grew until he had to catch her hand as it smeared ointment gently on his damaged shoulder.

"Mr. Wyper?"

"Either let me do it or lock the door."

"Yes, Mr. Wyper," Conis smiled calmly, and stood from the bed. Wyper was just undoing the cap of next jar when he heard a soft _slide_ that sounded like—

He looked. Indeed, the door was bolted. He sat frozen in place as Conis came back to the bed, and the moment she was in reach he grabbed her by the arm and had her under him in seconds. The jars scattered to the floor, but he didn't notice.

He brought his mouth to hers in an open-mouthed kiss, running his tongue along her lips, her teeth, her tongue. One hand ran up and down her side, feeling the slope of her hips, the swell of her breasts, the dip of her tiny waist. He was acutely aware of the fact that his chest was pressed tightly against his own, and that their bodies were aligned perfectly.

"Mr. Wyper," Conis gasped. "I think—we should switch places."

He pulled back and stared at her, his mind drawing a blank. She wanted to be on top? No woman had ever- how many men had she-

No, he reminded himself. None of that mattered.

"Mr. Wyper," said Conis gently. "Your arm. You shouldn't be using it so much."

"This is my good arm," he pointed out.

"Still," said Conis, and when she moved to roll them over, he complied. In their new position she was sitting astride him, and if she had missed the extent of his arousal before, she certainly wasn't now. Conis's brow furrowed and she shifted against him. Wyper saw stars and grabbed her arm.

"_Oh_," said Conis, her face bright red. "I didn't realize- I mean, we were just kissing, and-"

Wyper felt his face burning. He was about to say something about the five years since he had last had a woman, but Conis's weight shifted to his thighs and he felt fingers pull down his waistband, and she was staring at him.

Delicately, carefully, her fingers wrapped around him and moved. Her thumb caught the liquid at the tip and smeared it along his length, and he lurched upright.

"Mr. Wyper?" Conis said in surprise, and her fingers loosened their grip. Wyper caught her mouth with his again, and slid his hands along her body to her hips. He squeezed gently, and then dipped a hand further down, feeling the cloth between her legs. She jumped, and her hand suddenly tightened around him.

The cloth was annoying, Wyper reflected. Not that he had tried very hard to pleasure his previous partners, but he could at least tell when they were ready. No hint of moisture was evident through the cloth, and so he found its edge and snuck a finger in.

Conis whimpered into his mouth and the hand on him began moving again.

There was a hint of dampness, but no more. Moving his finger forwards, he found a place that made her tremble and shove her tongue against his. He rubbed and circled, trying to hold himself on the edge. He managed for a time, but then her fingers found a spot that made his control snap, and he came.

He regained sanity a few moments later to gentle kisses along his neck.

"Sorry," he panted. "It's been too long. I'll-" But as he reached for her again, Conis caught his hand.

"I have another patient to look after, so I can't be long. Next time." And with that, she wiped him off and resumed applying ointments and wrapping his bandages as if nothing had happened.

Even after she had left, Wyper found himself staring at the door uneasily. _She did enjoy that, didn't she?_ But he wasn't sure. And the most frightening part was that he had never even wondered how his companions felt about the experience before.

He lay down and closed his eyes, and refused to think about it. When he opened his eyes, it was dark with just a hint of light. A glance out the window confirmed that it was almost dawn.

Wyper looked around the darkened room, and saw something on the table. It was his dinner, covered with a bowl equipped with a heat dial. He sat down and helped himself to the food.

When Conis came in that morning, Wyper wasted no time in cornering her against the wall with a kiss. Conis responded briefly, but then pushed him away.

"I have a busy schedule today—I can come by in the evening. Would that be alright?"

Something about the phrasing bothered him. As though she took the kiss to mean that he wanted her in his bed right then (which he had); as if she thought he just wanted to use her body for release (which was also true). Wyper shook his head. It had to be the inactivity that was getting to him. The bare minimum before he could leave the hospital was another three days. That he could tolerate.

He mostly thought of Conis that day anyway. He thought of her while he waited for lunch, which was not delivered by her. He thought of her while a nurse he'd never seen changed his bandages. He thought of her until dinner, and when she emerged with the dinner tray he raised an eyebrow.

"Are you avoiding me?" he asked.

"Of course not," blinked Conis. "I had things to do-"

"If you think that I can't restrain myself from touching you if I see you," said Wyper, "you're wrong."

"I could hardly think that," laughed Conis. "You two weeks making sure I knew that you were _not_ touching me. By the time you started taking my hand, I…" Her face flushed. Wyper felt a thrill of satisfaction.

"Do you have time, now?" he asked.

"I ended my shift before I came here," she smiled. "But I have to make a request."

"A request?"

"I work here," she said. "I mean, maybe it won't be necessary now that the war is over, but if there's still business, I'll still work here. So…I may have to tend to someone else in that bed."

Wyper quirked an eyebrow in what he hoped she would understand as an agitated request that she make her request.

"So I don't want to do anything more than what we did yesterday until you can leave," she said.

"We could go somewhere else now," Wyper suggested.

"No," she said, her eyes narrowed. "You know that the doctor was reluctant enough to agree to the date that he chose. I _am_ a nurse."

"I thought you might say that," Wyper sighed. "I've waited this long. I can wait a little longer."

"Just out of curiosity…"

"Hm?"

"When did you decide you wanted me to…share your bed?"

"The night I first saw you." The moment it came out of his mouth, Wyper felt something shoot through him like unease. Like there was something missing from this conversation, and he ought to know what it was.

He shook off the feeling.

"That was two months ago," Conis observed. Her face and neck were the same shade of pink that made him want to press kisses to that skin as delicately as if it were made of pink flower petals.

"And if I hadn't spent the first month wanting you and the second month trying to seduce you, you'd never have kept me in here for two whole months."

Conis frowned at him. "Most people wouldn't be able to leave the hospital for half a year with a shoulder as damaged as yours."

Wyper shrugged. "I can move it again."

"But you shouldn't," Conis admonished. "You might slow the healing, or damage it again."

"How about you?" Wyper dared to ask, wondering why it felt so daring to simply repeat a question back to her.

"What?"

"When did you decide that you wanted to share my bed?"

Conis looked at him speculatively. Then she smiled. "That night that Aisa came to visit you, I happened to be nearby. You were telling her the story of your ancestors who fought to protect the Vearth for promise to a friend." Wyper's eyes went wide as he realized the night that she was talking about. He felt his cheeks go hot. Conis smiled at him and went on. "She fell asleep, but you went on telling the story. And you carried on to the part about how you told Mr. Luffy not to ring the bell, that it only had meaning if a Shandian rang it. Except that then, Miss Robin told you that he wanted to ring it for a man who had been searching for the bell for years in the name of his dishonored ancestor. Then you said that we're all just people, and fighting never makes anyone happy. But protecting does, so you said that from now on, you'll protect everyone in Skypeia."

"I…didn't mean anyone to hear that," said Wyper.

"I'm glad I did," smiled Conis. "It made me see you."

And she stepped over to Wyper's chair and leaned down to drop a slow kiss to his mouth. Wyper pulled her sideways into his lap and kissed her deeply. He held the back of her head with one hand, and angled her head just right to suck on her lips or tongue, to lick her mouth as his other hand roamed her body.

He ran his hand from her shoulder down her arm to her elbow, and back up to the hand on his shoulder; he traced the line of her spine down to her hip; he felt down one thigh and up the other back to her stomach, where he splayed his hand and brought it back around to her side. He traced it slowly up to the side of her breast, and brushed his thumb along the apex until he found the hardened peak. He flicked this a few times, and then pulled his mouth and hands from Conis.

"Come here," he said even as he lifted her into his arms with one arm around her back and the other under her knees.

"You'll hurt your shoulder!" Conis exclaimed, but carefully did not struggle, no doubt realizing that this would only put more pressure on the healing injury.

"It's a distance of three steps," said Wyper as he sat down on the bed and she rearranged herself so she was straddling his lap.

"I could have walked."

"I didn't want to let go."

She kissed him, and her hands started down his chest and lower, but he caught them. She pulled away and looked at him.

"I want to feel you—not just your hand," said Wyper.

"But I-"

Conis broke off in a gasp as Wyper grasped her hips and pulled her against him firmly, grinding himself against her. Her arms and legs wrapped around him and seemed to _melt_ against him.

"No clothes come off. Is this acceptable?" he whispered in her ear.

"I- I think so," gasped Conis. And then he leaned to her neck and began grinding in earnest. He leaned down and sucked on a nipple through her dress, and though Conis bucked against him, it wasn't enough. He pulled away and looked at her, and her eyes met his, the lids drooping.

He kept his eyes open and locked on hers as he captured her mouth in his, licked along her lips and slid their tongues together.

With sudden, fierce certainty, he needed to say something. He pulled their mouths apart, pressed their cheeks together and nearly said it—but something at the back of his mind warned him that those words were wrong. So instead he whispered one word in her ear: _"Mine."_

She stiffened against him, whimpered and went limp. He reached his own end and slumped against her.

As they caught their breath, his faculties slowly returned to him. He tightened his arms around the girl in his lap as he felt some realization coming to him—some line he had crossed that-

_Oh_. He remembered the words that he had wanted to say, and was suddenly immensely grateful to his subconscious for stopping him. He looked at Conis and wondered what would have happened if he had had this realization sooner.

Now, a day after he had informed her that romance was most certainly not on his agenda, he couldn't carelessly take back the words and tell her he loved her.

But with the clarity that comes with hindsight, he realized that he ought to have known. After all, no matter how beautiful the woman, he would never have sat by just _watching_ her for a month. And upon realizing the attraction was mutual, he would never have spent another month on coy seduction attempts unless he was trying to make absolutely certain that she didn't turn him down. And Wyper the Shandian warrior had never been one for cautionary tactics.

He didn't need the rest, Wyper reflected wildly. Kissing Conis, holding her would be enough. He needed to show her that he could treasure her and not take her for granted. That he didn't need her to share his bed to be happy.

"It's getting dark," said Conis. "I should go home."

As she left his lap and stood up, Wyper found himself following her up as if drawn by a string. He took her face in his hands and kissed her with all the desperation he felt—with all the love. He put everything he felt into the kiss and prayed that she would hear him.

"I- I can't," said Conis, pulling away, and his heart lurched painfully. "I have to get home."

For a moment, Wyper blinked blankly. Then he nodded. "Of course." Of course she had to go home. Of course she would think he just wanted…more physicality. Of course she hadn't heard him.

"You know where the spare clothes are," she said, and made her way out the door.

Only then did Wyper realize that they hadn't remembered to bolt it. Sighing to himself, he made his way down the darkened hallway to the laundry room, where he wiped himself off with the dirty pair of trousers before tossing them down the laundry shoot. He grabbed a new pair and pulled them on, and headed straight back to his room. He went to sleep, wanting to do anything but think.

The next day, they did nothing but kiss, but Conis left at the end of the day looking puzzled and maybe a little hurt. On the day after that, the day before he left the hospital, his attempts to keep from going beyond kissing failed spectacularly when Conis reached straight down his pants and grasped him, doing something amazing with her thumb.

On the last day, Conis came in just as he was finishing his preparations to leave. He was wearing his usual Shandian attire again, and this had not even occurred to him before Conis stared at him a moment, then bolted the door behind her, pushed him onto the bed and settled herself into his lap, rotating her hips and occasionally bouncing. This very quickly turned into a repeat of the second day, except that this time Conis was the one to wrap herself around him possessively and declare, "Mine." In response, Wyper ground against her one last time and whispered, "Yours."

"I have a late shift tonight," murmured Conis, "so I'll come to your village tomorrow. Would there be a time that would be most convenient for you?"

"Anytime," said Wyper. "I doubt I'll be doing much more than setting up house."

"Of course," smiled Conis. They were in the middle of another kiss when the door rattled. They pair sprang apart, and Wyper was suddenly immensely thankful that his Shandian outfit was one that allowed for wet stains.

Conis unbolted the door. Kamakiri, Braham, Laki and Aisa stared at her.

"I'm sorry, I seem to have accidentally bolted the door," smiled Conis.

_Aisa can tell that you're lying!_ Wyper thought with a wince, but when he glanced at Aisa, she was looking at him with a look that could only be described as half way between puzzled and speculative. Then her eyes slid to Conis, and back to Wyper. A slow smirk spread across her face, and Wyper realized with horror that he didn't know how much of his emotions might be leaking through to her.

He tried to glare and look generally intimidating. From the way her smirk dissolved into insane giggles, it wasn't particularly effective.

"Are you okay, Aisa?" asked Laki, a little alarmed.

"I'm fine," choked Aisa. "It's just that Wyper-"

"Does _not_ enjoy dealing with rumors," Wyper said warningly.

Aisa's mouth clamped shut, but the smirk remained on her face.

"I have other patients to attend to, so…" Conis turned to Wyper and smiled. "Come back for your scheduled check-ups, and look after yourself. Heso!"

And she was gone. Wyper wished that he could have at least hugged her. Then he realized that the others were still there, and glared threateningly at Aisa.

"For a terrifying warrior," remarked Laki, her voice infused with irony, "you're very easy to read."

Wyper froze.

"Why don't you just tell her?" suggested Kamakiri.

"Wait, what are we talking about?" asked Braham.

Wyper glared at them all and comforted himself with the thought that one could use Mantra and one was her cousin, so really, it was more like a 1:1 ratio.

He had a day and a half to worry about what he was going to do when Conis arrived. On one hand, he didn't want to take her while she still believed that it was less than what it was. On the other, he would rather have part of her than lose all of her.

He still wasn't decided when Conis arrived the next evening after the sun had just set.

"Mr. Wyper," said Conis, smiling shyly from his doorway. He mutely stepped to the side, and she stepped into the hut. "It's a nice place," she smiled.

"Thank you," said Wyper, looking around at what remained of his possessions after Enel's destruction of their old village.

"But there's no bed. Where do you sleep?"

"That," said Wyper, pointing to a rolled up cloud at the side of the room.

"Oh!" said Conis. "I've heard of these! I've never seen one, but…may I?"

"Help yourself," said Wyper, and she picked up the roll and let it unroll, and then shook it—and it puffed up. She laid the mattress on the ground and sat on it.

"It's so soft," she giggled. "Better than bed clouds."

She lay down on it and splayed out happily. Then a thoughtful look crossed her face, and she looked at Wyper. She slowly sat back up, her eyes fixed on Wyper's. He watched her, wondering what she was thinking.

She smiled, and reached to her side. Before Wyper fully registered what she was doing, most of the clasps of her dress were undone. And then she was wearing nothing at all, sitting on a cloud mattress in the middle of his hut.

"Conis, I…I have to…"

Something that might have been panic crossed her face, and she lurched to her feet. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed him lightly, on one corner of the mouth, the other corner, his nose, the center of his mouth.

His hands had automatically settled on her back, and there was so much warm skin. Their chests, their stomachs, they pressed together skin to skin, and Wyper knew that if he submitted to this once, he would never be able to go without it again.

"Conis, we can't-"

But Conis, the gentle, smiling girl who had herself admitted to being attracted to him for a month and a half before anything happened, who had never made a move to voluntarily further this relationship, shoved Wyper's outfit down his hips and then, with one hand braced on his good shoulder and the other on his waist, jumped up and wrapped her legs around him—only to start sliding down again when she settled too low.

Wyper was smirking and pulling her up so that she could brace herself properly with her legs around his hips.

"Eager, I see," he murmured. "Far be it to me to deny you when you're so determined."

She ran her hands along his sides, down his back and lower. Wyper took his mouth in his and kissed her as he lowered her onto the mattress, covering her with his own body.

He kissed her mouth, her ears, her neck. He kissed her collar bone, her wrists, her elbows, her breasts, her stomach. He was getting lower when Conis's arms wrapped around him and pulled him back up to her, ran a hand down his back and said, quietly but strongly, "Take me."

Wyper could do little more than lean down and kiss her mouth. He reached a hand between them to feel her. She was wet—more than enough. He stroked her, licked her neck, nibbled her earlobe until she could do nothing but hold on. Then he aligned himself, and pushed _in_ with one fierce stroke.

He felt something give, and she stiffened in his arms and cried out in something that was decidedly _not _pleasure—and he froze. He didn't need to look to know that there would be blood.

"You-" he gulped. "You're pure."

"I was a virgin, yes," said Conis, eyeing him defiantly. "Now I'm not."

"But you…" He swallowed, dropped his head to her neck and held her. "You should have _told_ me."

"Would you have taken me if I'd told you?" asked Conis.

"Of course not!" said Wyper.

"See?"

"No! No, I don't see! Do your people not value purity? Is it really something that you just toss away at the first opportunity?"

"And what of all those women you slept with among your people?" asked Conis, and he could have been angry if she had asked accusingly, but she was gentle. "What of their purity?"

"They were- none of them were pure when I had them! They were all- but you-"

Conis wrapped her arms around him and stroked his hair and his back.

"How is the loss of purity supposed to happen, among your people?"

"It isn't, until a woman is wed," said Wyper. "But with the guards of Enel, I suppose we just got used to- that women weren't- I mean, if a girl makes it to marriageable age still pure, she becomes a hero whose hand in marriage is then a privilege and an honor—like Laki."

"I see," said Conis, running her fingers through his hair. "There aren't such strong feelings about it among Skypeians."

Wyper loosened his hold around her and lifted his torso from hers so he could look down at her.

"Can I…ask you something?"

"Anything."

"Have you ever been…intimate with another man?"

"I've never so much as kissed another man."

Wyper stared down at her in disbelief.

"Then why did you kiss me?" he demanded. "Why did you not _tell_ me that day, deny me into your bed? You could have been a prized bride, wedded clothed in the green of the Vearth—you could have been _everything_."

There was a moment's silence in which Conis closed her eyes.

"In your eyes," whispered Conis, "if I could have been everything when I was pure, what might I become now that I'm not pure?"

Wyper stared at her for only a moment before he answered. "My wife."

Conis's eyes snapped open and she stared at him, wide-eyed. He barely had time to register that they were moist before she narrowed them at him and wrapped her legs around his waist.

"_No_," she said fiercely, and her rejection _hurt_. "You said that all you sought was physical release. My purity is _gone_, so now move! I won't be pitied!"

It took all his willpower not to shove her away—with the strength with which her legs were gripping him, he would injure her gravely if he tried.

"Why?" he asked instead, wondering if the world had always been so vast or so empty. All that he wanted was here, in front of him—he was _inside_ her, and she was telling him she didn't want him. "Am I so poor a choice for a husband? Give me a _reason_, Conis."

"I told you, Mr. Wyper," she said gently, cupping his face. "I won't be pitied because you feel guilty."

"It's not pity!" he snapped sharply, and her eyes went wide. "I do wish that you'd told me you were pure before, but I'd never throw my life away for _pity_."

"Then why would you throw your life away for me?" she asked.

"It wouldn't be-" He stopped and gulped. Then he rolled them over and sat up, holding her hips so that they would remain joined. "Marriage would only be throwing my life away if it were for something ridiculous, like pity. This is _not_ pity. I wanted you since the night we first met—and I thought it was just physical but that was wrong. I love your laugh. I love your voice. I love that you do what you think is best no matter what anyone else says, no matter what anyone else believes. I love your strength. I love your beauty. I love…"

And he faltered, because Conis had begun to cry.

"I-" I'm sorry, he wanted to say, but he couldn't. "Please don't cry," he said instead. "I know I said I wasn't- I never meant to lie. I didn't know myself, and-"

He was cut off by the press of Conis's lips against his own in a closed-mouth kiss. She pulled away before he could respond, and pressed her forehead to his.

"You know, Skypeians also tell their daughters that virginity isn't something that you give to just _anyone_."

"Oh?" asked Wyper. His voice sounded hoarse to his own ears.

"They say that it should be the man you love."

"I love you," said Wyper. "More than…anything I can describe. More than I thought was possible. You're more than everything. _I love you_. Marry me."

"Yes," said Conis.

He leaned in to kiss her, and Conis's body jerked and trembled violently for a moment. Her body _squeezed_ around him, and suddenly he was with her in a paradise all their own.

"I hope you were serious," gasped Wyper as they lay down to catch their breath.

"I thought there was supposed to be…movement," said Conis.

"Speaking of which, where did you learn to do all that thing with your thumb? Or actually, where did you learn _anything_ we did?" demanded Wyper.

"Miss Laki explained some things to me. In those first few days, when I was always busy—of course, I had patients too, but I also kept using my breaks to go talk to her."

"Where did _she_ learn them?"

"From the other Shandian women, I assume," Conis blinked. "Though she does seem fond of Mr. Kamakiri…"

"If they were sleeping together, I would know. Actually, they would be wedded."

"You never know," smiled Conis. "She seemed to find the Skypeian views on purity most interesting."

Wyper wrapped both arms around Conis and pulled her flush against him.

"We're sleeping now. In the morning, we're going to your father to ask for his blessing. Then we're going to the chief and getting married."

Conis peered up at him. "It _does_ bother you!" she accused.

"Of _course_ it bothers me," said Wyper. "I should at least have _guessed_. I could have married you first, but I…"

"I'm glad we did it this way," said Conis. "Just think of the time a courtship would have taken. Besides," she whispered, dropping a kiss to Wyper's chin, "I like that we'll have both the night before our wedding and after our wedding. And in any case, I'd rather wait a little longer."

"For what?"

"To be absolutely certain that you're not doing this out of some misplaced sense of duty."

Wyper growled. "I _never_ do anything I don't want to."

"Still," smiled Conis.

"And I," said Wyper, looking straight into her eyes, "never want to pull out at the last moment as if you mean anything less to me than what you do. I want to have children with you, I want to know that you're _mine_ just as much as I'm yours. So I want to marry you tomorrow."

"That was a very good argument," said Conis.

"Did I convince you?"

"A little, yes."

Wyper swallowed heavily. "But?"

"I'd rather spend the rest of the night talking than sleeping."

"Talking?" asked Wyper.

"You have to admit," Conis said, sitting up, "that we don't actually know each other that well."

"My feelings won't change," Wyper said fiercely.

"Neither will mine," Conis said, matching his gaze. "But I'd like to know more about you before you become my husband."

"Then you should probably put on some clothes," said Wyper.

Conis glanced down at him and flushed. "You should too, I think."

* * *

"Aisa," called Laki. "Aisa, do you know what happened to Wyper? We can't find him since the day before yesterday, and Braham's worried that- What is it?"

Laki cut off her question in alarm when Aisa looked away, her face turning rapidly redder.

"What did he do?" Laki demanded a little alarmed.

"It's not that he _did_ anything," said Aisa carefully. "But his mind is very…strong. Loud? Or something like that."

"What?" asked Laki.

Aisa considered her situation for a moment. On one hand, she could keep quiet, safe in the knowledge that if she said nothing, Wyper couldn't fault her. On the other hand, he _was_ being rather loud (not that Conis was much better, but at least she wasn't _broadcasting_ her feelings).

"Well, you see," said Aisa, clearing her throat. "Wyper's in the ancestor's city with Conis. I know because if I get anywhere near there, I can't just hear his voice—I hear his voice saying, '_I love Conis!_' like it needs to be broadcast. And it started back when he was at the hospital, but it keeps getting _worse_."

Laki blinked. Then she burst out laughing.

"And Conis was so worried that he might not even see her!"

"Really?" asked Aisa.

"Yep," grinned Laki. "Let's go tell the chief he might want to start getting ready for a wedding, shall we?"

"But how do you know they'll want to get married so soon?"

Laki grinned. "I just know."

It was three days after Wyper left the hospital that he and Conis emerged from the city of the ancestors, pleasantly uninterrupted due to Aisa's delight in running around telling every Shandian and Skypeian who would listen that Wyper was in _love_ and he and his intended were in the ruins mentally broadcasting how much they loved each other.

Their voices were hoarse and there were bags under their eyes, but sure enough, Wyper wasted no time taking Conis to the chief to introduce her as his intended. Then they went to see Pagaya, who smiled and fed them and did not seem at all intended by his serious new son-in-law to be.

They were wed that same night in the ruins of the ancestors by God Gan Fall himself, with people around them rejoicing and declaring their marriage a symbol of all the friendship, peace and joy that would be the future of Skypeia.

The newlyweds fell asleep early in the reception, leaning against each other and a wall.

The next day attempts to tease them about what they had been doing in the ruins for two days straight without sleeping were met with the serious and smiling declaration, "We were talking."


End file.
